Svenska Spel makes 18 proposals to improve Swedish gambling market
Stronger protections against gambling harms for younger players and DNS blocking of unlicensed operators are among 18 proposals put forward by Swedish operator Svenska Spel for improving the market.
European gambling jurisdictions have been under the microscope in the past few years over topics such as regulation and the unlicensed market, with Sweden chief among them.
In September, the government listened to calls from the industry to look into ways to improve Sweden’s channelisation rate, with a government-backed investigator’s proposal on tweaking a key part of the Gambling Act welcomed by the likes of Svenska Spel and ATG.
In its own report on how to improve the market, the operator recommended that the government move forward with the proposal, which would allow the gambling regulator, Spelinspektionen, to crack down on unlicensed companies that use other languages and currencies than Swedish and the Swedish krona when targeting Sweden.
However, the report’s other proposals include that there should be stronger consumer protections such as stricter gambling limits, a ban on direct marketing and faster gambling harm interventions for players under 25 years of age.
Svenska Spel has also recommended risk classifications for different gambling products, insisting that “high-risk” games on online casinos such as slots should be subject to stricter requirements such as tighter marketing restrictions.
“Seven years after re-regulation, we are far from the goal of a safe gambling market,” said Svenska Spel CEO Anna Johnson.
“Young people and women are particularly vulnerable, and growth is occurring almost exclusively within high-risk games such as online casinos.
“This threatens both consumer protection and trust in the regulated market. With our report, we want to show that there are concrete and feasible solutions.”
Svenska Spel has also urged Spelinspektionen to be allowed to go further in its battle against unlicensed companies by allowing DNS blocking, citing success with the measure in Denmark, Norway and Singapore.
“Gambling companies should be more transparent about their duty-of-care efforts,” Svenska Spel also argues.
“As consumer information and to establish a common standard, all companies with a Swedish license should publish on their website, for example, how they manage gambling limits and exclusion measures to counteract excessive gambling.
“All gambling companies currently report semi-annual statistics to the Swedish Gambling Authority regarding their customers and duty-of-care work – for example, the number of duty-of-care contacts, whether gambling decreased among contacted customers, and the share of revenue from those who lost the most money. These statistics should be made public so that gambling companies can learn from each other.”
https://www.intergameonline.com/igaming/news/svenska-spel-makes-18-proposals-to-improve-swedish-gambling-market